Proper training

If Eastern Washington’s sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols seemed uncommonly comfortable while operating within the loud, rowdy environment inside of Montana’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium last Saturday, it was because he had been there on Game Day before.

Normally, college football players who have been designated to redshirt don’t travel with the team. But it has been Eastern coach Paul Wulff’s long-held strategy to expose promising young players – especially quarterbacks – to hostile surrounding as early as possible.

As a result, Nichols was on the sidelines in Washington-Grizzly Stadium as a redshirting rookie in 2005 when his predecessor, Erik Meyer, led the Eagles to a 34-20 upset win over UM. He claimed that experience had a lot to do with the record-setting 37 completions and 451 passing yards he amassed during a disappointing 24-23 road loss to the No. 1-ranked Grizzlies last Saturday.

“I think it was good for me, even though I didn’t play,” said Nichols, looking back on his initial venture into Montana’s 23,183-seat stadium, which is considered to be one of the least opponent-friendly venues in the country. “It was an awesome thing that the coaches let me travel and experience that before I actually had to play there.”

According to Wulff, it was simply Nichols’ time to be introduced to Washington-Grizzly Stadium and Montana’s raucous fans.

“Any time we get a freshman quarterback we think is going to be a player for us relatively soon, we try to expose him to hostile environments like the one in Missoula as soon as possible,” he said. “And I think in Matt’s case, even though we didn’t win, it paid off.”